Question about Military Paint Jobs

[FresnoR]

Although I am only about to complete the empennage, color selection is always on my mind (Maybe because the image of a completed RV in my imagination is difficult without knowing what the paint will look like).

I am not familiar with the type of paint that goes onto actual military aircraft, but it always seems to have a very low sheen to it. Especially WWII aircraft.

For those of you with military schemes, do you use a flat or gloss paint?

And what method did they use back then to paint aircraft?

Thanks...

[tinman]

I have never seen an RV done with flat paint in a military scheme. The military uses the flat to avoid the "shine" of a glossy paint. In my opinion, the military scheme done in flat would look better, but would be impossible to keep clean...imagine trying to scrub oil leaks off of it.

[glenn654]

Bruce Sachs, a frequent poster here has a -6 or -7 or-9 (I forget which) painted olive drab w/ the correct markings. A friend of mine painted it and turned out looking fine.
Really has that pre-war look....don't know about its maintaince issues if any.
Perhaps Bruce will chime in.

Glenn Wilkinson
RV-4 @ MLJ

[FresnoR]

Yeah I know about the plane your talking about, it's an rv-9. Absolutely beautiful and a lot like what I was thinking. I am not sure if his is flat or gloss though.

[noelf]

...colors and "gloss" are aimed at giving the most advantage to our pilots and crews, and the greatest difficulty in detection to the enemy.

Each aerial conflict, each Theater of Operation, each season brings different "color" aspects to bear when addressing the enemy and mission.

Today's air environment brings a level of technical / sensor capability that is substantially different from even 20 years ago. Today, IR capture and tracking are quite sophisticated in our (and our adversaries) weapons, so paint covering tend to be "flat" and the national emblems are subdued. This lessens the optical and IR signature of the aircraft (in some aspects) that operate in that particular threat environment.

Other "paint" schemes (think WWII carrier based aircraft) are dark or even multicolored to blend into the background color, making it difficult for the enemy to detect.

When air superiority is gained, then flashy, glossy coverings can be applied to "enhance" the presence of the forces.

Chose the color scheme that suits you. But remember, you may want to chose the "opposite" scheme so that your aircraft is optically highly visible.

[szicree]

Here's a video of the one I built and painted. It's flattened urethane and actually cleans up just fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqiqwxJUXeo

[guccidude1]

When I was stationed at Offutt, SAC HQ, the discussion was heated on what paint to use to repaint the tanker fleet. Mx wanted gloss, easier to keep clean, pilots wanted flat to avoid detection from enemy fighters due to sun glint. The decision was made to use semigloss. Dan.

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by guccidude1

When I was stationed at Offutt, SAC HQ, the discussion was heated on what paint to use to repaint the tanker fleet. Mx wanted gloss, easier to keep clean, pilots wanted flat to avoid detection from enemy fighters due to sun glint. The decision was made to use semigloss.

So..............in our case, we want it easier to keep clean, and actually BE seen by others. Therefor, a glossier paint makes sense!

And that's exactly what I did. A military scheme with glossy paint.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[rvmills]

There are a few nice Rockets painted in a flat, primer-gray camo scheme that look really, really cool (IMHO). If you go to the Team Rocket "builder's albums" site here, look for Tom Martin's album, and the Team Rocket EVO album. Both are great looking airplanes, and are light gray on medium gray camo. The Team Rocket EVO plane is the cover bird.

Tom told me, when I was whining about making speed mods and messing up my nice paint job, that I shoulda gone with primer gray camo, and I'd be able to make all the mods I want, and not worry about the paint. To be honest, if I was painting one now, that's exactly what I would do! Not just for the mods...it looks awesome.

Not sure on cleanup, but those airplanes seem to look good, in pics and in person. As far as vis goes, if you're not always flying over gray water, or under gray skies, or off of gray boats ...I think it'd be OK. You can always add a big R,W& B Flag, a big red star, or some other design (EDIT: Ooohh, or a big red bulldog...just saw you are from Fresno...my condolences, I'm a SJSU guy! ). For hi vis, look at Wayne Hadath's album on the Team Rocket site...black and gray primer, and easy to see. Both his and Tom's actually are fairly easy to see. Unfortunately, I always seem to be looking at them from the rear quarter...not necessarily a bad thing from a fighter pilot's perspective ...I just wish I could make them get bigger in the windscreen . They are really fast...maybe its that primer paint!

Ya know, glossy ain't bad either...saw the gent's that was paited like a Corsair last year too...very nice, and it'd be another fun way to go!

Have fun with the paint...fun to start with a blank sheet!

Cheers,
Bob

[bsacks05]

Here is a shot of my -9 as we were taxiing in from our first landing at SNF in 2007.
Paint is OD green, flattened, no clear except on invasion stripes. Bottom of the plane is flattened gray.
Painted by Lee Strickland in Sandersville, GA. The design was by a fellow EAA member, Bob Hamilton after we discussed what I had in mind for the plane.